Everyday Things You Didn’t Know Had a Purpose

Ordinary things are all around us. Lately, we have a lot more time to contemplate their function. Some of those everyday objects harbor secrets you never knew. Consider these things you didn’t know had a purpose.

Notches in Your Screwdriver Handle

Those valleys on the handle of your screwdriver are there for a reason—they make it possible for some matching size wrenches to fit around the handle, giving you more torque when you’re trying to twist the screwdriver. Those wrenches that have one open C-shaped end and one closed circular end are designed so you can put the circle end over the screwdriver handle. It will grip and let you turn the screwdriver places that are awkward or difficult to reach.

Hole in the Top of the Pen Cap

Many ballpoint pens come with caps on the end, and these caps have holes in them. The holes make the cap useless for preventing the pen from drying out—at best, the cap prevents the end of the pen from dabbing ink all over everything when it is lying around unused. The hole in the cap is actually a safety feature. Turns out many people—especially babies—who chew on the ends of their pens accidentally inhale the pen cap, and the hole helps keep an airway open until help arrives.

Extra Ridges on the Base of a Stapler

Not many people know this, but staplers actually have two settings. The part of an ordinary office stapler that bends the ends of the staple under, to hang onto paper firmly, is reversible. If you turn it around, it changes the setting of the stapler so the ends of the staples spread outward instead of curling under. This is called the “pin” setting, because it is like a sewer’s pin—essentially, meant to be temporary. The pin setting causes less damage when you remove a staple

Little Ridges or Bumps on the “F” and “J” Keys of Your Computer Keyboard

Most people who type still use the traditional “QWERTY” keyboard. The correct starting hand position is with the index fingers on the “f” and the “j,” respectively. Those keys have little bumps or ridges on them to alert you if you put your hands in the wrong position.

Encrypted Fruit

The oranges and apples in your refrigerator’s fruit drawer might be trying to tell you something: the stickers on them display a numeric code to give you important information. A four-digit code that starts with a “4” means the item was grown using pesticides, a five-digit code starting with a “9” means organic, and a five-digit code starting with “8” means you’re looking at a genetically modified piece of fruit.

These are just a few of the ordinary things you didn’t know had a purpose. If you pay attention, you’ll probably notice many other everyday things in your environment that make you think, hmm, I wonder what that thing is for?